{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O86773"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O86773/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF9208/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF9208/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF9208","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O86773/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O86773","accessionNumber":"LOAN:STEIN.680","objectType":"Fragment","titles":[{"title":"The Stein Collection","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"It is not known exactly what purpose this textile may have served. The woven silk shows an all over diamond pattern. The piece was originally dyed blue but has now dramatically faded to a brownish colour. It was recovered from the Buddhist site of  Kharakoto, which dates from the 11th to the 13th century. The name Kharakhoto means 'The Black Town', which probably refers to the massive walls and bastions that were still visible above ground when excavation of the site began.\r\n       \r\nThe site is part of an area of Central Asia we now call  the Silk Road, a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia from China to Europe. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. While silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India along  this route. \r\n\r\nThese textiles were brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). The Victoria and Albert Museum has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein  at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of animals. Most of the pieces are fragmentary and it is not  easy to see what they would originally have been used for. Occasionally, whole items survive such as shoes, purses and religious banners.","physicalDescription":"Monochrome patterned weave made of silk showing all over diamond pattern. The piece was originally dyed in a pale blue colour but has now dramatically faded to a brownish colour.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[{"text":"patterned weave","id":"x37271"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pattern woven silk","categories":[{"text":"Archaeology","id":"THES48874"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[{"text":"Song","id":"AAT18427"},{"text":"Central Asian","id":"AAT18281"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2006AF9208"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES301580"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Textile fragment","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Kharakhoto","id":"x37557"},"association":{"text":"excavated","id":"AAT53702"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1000-1250","earliest":"1000-01-01","latest":"1250-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Stein Textile Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"27","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"22","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Kharakhoto lies east of the Tarim Basin, near Mongolia. The city was founded in the eleventh century AD by the Tanguts, an agricultural people; and Kharakhoto became capital of their Xixia Kingdom in the twelfth century AD. Overrun by the Mongols during the thirteenth century, Kharakhoto was retaken by the Chinese during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). A Buddhist stupa at the site yielded paintings on silk, Buddhist manuscripts and woodblock prints, and hundreds of terracotta Buddha images. The V&A holds on loan four dyed and patterned silks from Kharakhoto.","briefDescription":"Pattern woven blue silk with diamond design, excavated in Khara-Khoto, 1000-1250","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wilson, Verity. 'Early Textiles from Central Asia: Approaches to Study with reference to the Stein Loan Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London', <u>Textile History 26 (1) </u>.  Devon: David & Charles/Pasold Research Fund Ltd, 1995, pp.23-52."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Stein, Aurel, Sir. <u>Innermost Asia; Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kan-Su and Eastern Iran</u>, 4 vols (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1928), vol. I, p. 473."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Stein, Marc Aurel (Sir)","id":"N2850"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["LOAN:STEIN.680"],"accessionNumberNum":"680","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:STEIN","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Stein number","id":"THES50251"},"number":"K.K.II.030"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-29","recordCreationDate":"2003-12-05","availableToBook":false}}